Jayson Tatum ready to lead new-look Celtics in aftermath of Jaylen Brown trade to 76ers

BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum’s one constant during his development into a star with the Boston Celtics has been having Jaylen Brown as a teammate.

That partnership ended this offseason when the Celtics front office decided to trade Brown -- the 2024 NBA Finals MVP – to the Philadelphia 76ers in what was largely a cost-cutting move that broke up the duo most responsible for leading Boston to the 2024 NBA championship.

“The business of the NBA comes and plays a part at some point. And I’ve seen it in my almost 10 years in this league,” Tatum said during the Celtics media day on Monday. “For me it’s more so being grateful for what we accomplished and what he means for this city and to this organization. Just the ups and downs in our career that we were able to grow and learn from and made us the players that we are today. So really just being thankful for those nine years.”

The closeness of the Tatum and Brown’s off-court relationship — or lack thereof -- was a topic of conversation throughout their time together as teammates, especially as it became clearer that having two $300 million contracts on the books would be unsustainable for the team’s salary cap health going forward.

The choice was ultimately to keep Tatum, sending Brown to an interdivision rival that has suddenly vaulted to a contender in the Eastern Conference after also picking up LeBron James this offseason.

It has cast a brighter spotlight on Tatum, a six-time All-star and five-time All-NBA selection, as the unequivocal leader of the Celtics as he enters his first full season after tearing his Achilles tendon during the 2025 NBA playoffs.

He said he’s ready to take on the challenge of leading new-look version of the Celtics, that got back Paul George in the trade and added big man Mitchell Robinson and guard Mike Conley Jr.

“Yeah, very comfortable. This is Year 10,” Tatum said. “Leadership is about a lot of different things. Awareness is the biggest one. Self-awareness, awareness of the group. And just understanding we all have roles and we’re just kind of simply in this together. So it looks different from person to person.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said the style of the team won’t necessarily change without Brown.

“I don’t think that it’s necessarily the phrase ‘without Jaylen,‘” Mazzulla said. “Every year you’re getting new players, old players, the same players that you have coming back expand their games and they look differently. So it’s not as much what it looks like without one person or the other as much as it’s what’s our roster, how can we take advantage of the strengths and talent that we have.”

Tatum reached the 16-month mark since he had surgery on his Achilles tendon and he said he’s ready to go after having to miss Game 7 of Boston’s first-round playoff matchup against the Sixers last season.

“I feel great having this offseason to get stronger,” he said. "Get more explosive and just work on my body in totality. So, obviously feel much better than I did this time last year and I’m excited and thankful for that.”

If anyone knows what it’s like to try to return to the court after a major injury, it’s George. He missed nearly all of the 2014-2015 NBA season while with the Indiana Pacers after sustaining a compound fracture in his right leg during a Team USA scrimmage.

He reiterated that he sees his role this season as filing whatever holes there are on the court.

“Obviously, JT is the guy,” George said. “I’m there to support him in all facets. I’ve always prided myself on being able to not just do one thing, kind of wearing whatever hat that I needed to while still producing at a high level. That’s kind of how I view being here.”

Two years ago, during Boston’s conference semifinals loss to the New York Knicks, Mazzulla employed an intentional foul strategy against Robinson, a historically bad shooter at the line.

Mazzulla joked Monday that he’d miss fouling Robinson now that he was one of his players.

Robinson, who said he’s worked on his career 50.8% free throw shooting this offseason, said that his history with Mazzulla required a conversation between the two.

“At first, we had a little issue because I’m like, ‘You've got to say sorry for fouling me,’” Robinson joked. “He apologized, and now we’re on the same team, so it’s going to be great, just building together and stuff like that. ... I feel like it’s going to be epic.”

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Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla listens to a reporter's question during the NBA basketball team¥s media day, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum, center, talks with teammates Mike Conley, left, and Payton Pritchard (11) during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics' Paul George poses during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum poses during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum, left, and Paul George, right, pose together during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A Utah judge on Monday ordered a 71-year-old man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing to be released on bail, despite objections from the victim's family, after prosecutors said newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him.

Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death that same year after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, an aunt of the Provo police chief at the time.

The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter has maintained his innocence and says a signed confession was coerced.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene, but the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on the confession and two witnesses who said he bragged about killing Olesen, who was white. Those witnesses later recanted.

Judge Derek Pullan said that the new DNA analysis further undermined the case against Carter, but a reasonable jury still conclude that he murdered Olesen.

Pullan ordered Carter to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release, and to avoid contact with Olesen's family.

Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said Carter will be placed in an extended stay accommodation near the family of his son, who was adopted by another family as an infant and didn't learn about the conviction until years later. Carter also will need therapy to deal with his extended incarceration, Hamilton said.

“It's not just as simple as, ‘Let’s let him go,'" Hamilton said. “He's being released with 41 years of state-induced trauma and the effect it will have on him is very real.”

Pullan had scheduled a two-month retrial for 2027, but last week Utah County prosecutors withdrew a notice that they intended to seek the death penalty.

The prosecutors said results of a DNA analysis received Sept. 22 exclude Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.

Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the judge Monday that reassessing Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state continues to look at the remaining evidence in the case.

Carter, a Chicago native, had been living with his mother in Utah at the time of Olesen’s killing on Feb. 27, 1985. Court documents indicate the investigation eventually focused on Carter, who was suspected of killing Olesen during a robbery.

By that April, Carter had fled Utah believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case, according to court documents. He was apprehended that June in Nashville, Tennessee, where Carter signed a confession while under interrogation from a Provo detective.

Carter said later that he had given a false confession after being repeatedly threatened by police. He was convicted and sentenced to death after a trial in which the defense called no witnesses. He was again sentenced to death after a 1992 retrial, and courts in Utah rejected numerous appeals from Carter in subsequent years.

A turning point came in 2011, when the two witnesses at his original trial were tracked down in Mexico. They said they had been told to lie in court and were given cash and gifts by police who told them not to disclose the payments. They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.

More than a decade of legal wrangling followed before the Utah Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor. A DNA analysis of the evidence was conducted in response to that order and prosecutors said the results arrived last week. They declined Monday to say whether they're using the DNA evidence to search for other suspects with matching DNA.

Carter's defense attorneys have said witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene and an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.

They allege that prosecutors were close to filing charges against the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant asked them not to so he could continue investigating. Carter was identified as a suspect soon after, according to court documents.

Orla Olesen, a painting contractor who died in 2009, told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.

Theresa Olesen, a daughter in law of Eva Olesen, said during Monday's bond hearing that her family had "serious concerns" about Carter's release. She said he should remain in the Utah County jail, where he was being held pending a new trial.

“By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” Olesen said of the DNA analysis. “It doesn't mean he wasn't there."

“There are other factors and hopefully the investigation will continue," she added. "We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it we want that to be known.”

Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)

Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)

Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)

Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)

Former death row inmate Douglas Stewart Carter appears in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, for a bond hearing on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)